Rep. Michael Grimm cooked the books at an Upper East Side restaurant he owned to conceal more than $1 million.

Rep. Michael Grimm cooked the books at an Upper East Side restaurant he owned to conceal more than $1 million in revenue and wages from the taxman, prosecutors charged Monday.

The Staten Island Republican, a former FBI agent, was hit with a battery of federal charges — including wire and mail fraud, perjury, hiring undocumented immigrants and filing false tax returns — in a blistering 20-count indictment.

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Grimm surrendered to FBI agents and was arraigned in Brooklyn federal court. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

"Michael Grimm had a choice faced by every business owner in America: He could have done it honestly, or cheated his way to success," Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch said. "Grimm made the choice to go from upholding the law to breaking it."

The charges arise from Grimm's operation of Healthalicious, a Second Ave. eatery he co-owned from 2007 until 2010, when he was first elected to Congress.

U.S. Rep. Michael Grimm (center) walks out of Brooklyn Federal Court after being indicted on 20 counts that include various forms fraud on Monday. (Andrew Burton/Getty Images)

The indictment says he kept two sets of books to hide more than $1 million in receipts and hundreds of thousands of dollars more in wages to avoid paying payroll, income and sales taxes.

To pull off the scam, Grimm often "physically handed out cash payments to his employees," many of whom were in the country illegally, the indictment adds.

Grimm also allegedly lied under oath during a deposition he gave last year after two former employees said they'd been cheated out of wages.

"As a former FBI agent, Rep. Grimm should understand the motto: Fidelity, Bravery and Integrity," FBI Assistant Director George Venizelos said. Grimm "lived by a new motto: Fraud, Perjury and Obstruction."

Loretta Lynch, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, stands next to a poster displaying the alleged crimes committed by U.S. Rep. Michael Grimm during a news conference Monday. (Seth Wenig/AP)

The hotheaded Grimm made headlines in January when he threatened to throw a NY1 reporter over a congressional balcony for asking about the federal investigation.

But Grimm looked calm as he was arraigned before federal Magistrate Robert Levy. His lawyer entered a not guilty plea, and he was released on $400,000 bond. He agreed to surrender his passport and his guns.

Outside of court, Grimm called the case a "political witch hunt" designed "to assassinate my character and remove me from office." He vowed to fight the charges "tooth and nail."

"I know I'm a moral man, a man of integrity," he said.

(JR/New York Daily News)

Lynch denied the prosecution was politically motivated, saying investigators uncovered the fraud as they looked into allegations of illegal campaign fundraising by Grimm in 2010.

None of the charges unsealed Monday had to do with campaign finances, but Lynch pointed out that "the investigation is broader and ongoing."

Investigators found out about the restaurant shenanigans from Ofer Biton, a fundraiser for Grimm who also had a financial interest in Healthalicious, sources said.

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The Daily News reported Sunday that Grimm's accountant, Wayne Muratoe, had been a key witness against him in the grand jury. A Healthalicious manager, Manuel Perez, copped a plea in the case Friday, and helped to build the case against Grimm, sources said.

Grimm's partner in the restaurant was Bennett Orfaly, who the feds said is close friends with a capo in the Gambino crime family.